As far as players I saw a fair deal, probably Walton. I only saw KAJ (then Lew Alcindor) play once in college, and that was his last game. Believe it or not, the NCAA tourney was not televised nationally until the very late sixties, and then I only saw the title game. And you could only see NBA playoff games on weekends. Yes, that's right, if the final game was on a week day, you were out of luck.But Walton and UCLA were on quite a bit in the early seventies. Walton was just so dominant. Quite happy though when Notre Dame beat them to snap their win streak and N.C. State beat them in the NCAA tourney Walton's senior year.

I went to the 3OT Kansas Oklahoma game where Hield scored 46 points. Kansas was #1 in AP poll and Oklahoma were #1 in coaches poll. Hield also had 37 against Oregon that season. Haven't been to a whole lot of live college basketball but that performance against Kansas was insane.

I'm a millennial, the best college player of my time was probably Tim Duncan (though I don't think I saw him play, just heard about how great he was). During that time, I'd say the best player I saw with my own eyes might have been Ray Allen, but I was quite young in the 90s and did not remember college nearly as well as NBA.

I started watching NCAA ball in 1988. In that time, Tyler Hansbrough had the best career of any college player I've seen. For single season the serious contenders for me are Sr Tim Duncan, So Blake Griffen, Sr JJ Redick, Sr Christian Laetner, So Larry Johnson, Fr Kevin Durant, and Jr Steph Curry. Curry's league is so weak it's a little hard to know how to judge him, but his body of work since then certainly suggests he'd have lit up any league. Fr Chris Jackson putting up 30 ppg in the SEC was pretty impressive as well, but he wasn't quite as efficient and a little more one-dimensional than some of the other guys listed.

So Chris Webber was pretty amazing too but his team was deep and he didn't have to do as much - he may have been able to put up eye popping numbers elsewhere. Same holds true for a few guys that passed through the Kentucky factory lately - their teams were so stacked who knows what they might have done somewhere they had to carry more load.

Patsfan1081 wrote:Pistol Pete is the greatest college player ever. Manning, Robertson, Bird were also great, Hank Gathers is another great college player who sadly had his life cut short.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a probably the college GOAT.

But that I saw, Danny Manning or Waymon Tisdale.

Wayman Tisdale was nearly unstoppable. Listed in the program as 6'9", he was likely closer to 6'6" but he had tremendous body control and a soft touch on turnaround jumpers from ten feet and in. He battled Memphis States twin tower lineup of Keith Lee and William Bedford and darned near beat them in the tourney.

The best I saw in person was Daron "Mookie" Blaylock when he tied his NCAA record of 13 steals in a game against Loyola-Marymount in Norman. He was a good offensive player and a lockdown defender.

RealGas wrote:The best I saw in person was Daron "Mookie" Blaylock when he tied his NCAA record of 13 steals in a game against Loyola-Marymount in Norman. He was a good offensive player and a lockdown defender.

I thought I'd never see anyone share a table with alcindor and walton but sampson was special. No pf has ever done what wicks did to future hof'er artis gilmore. Bradley and bird were similar in their college career for what they did.

I struggled with where I should draw the line and I decided here because I think THIS club is exclusive.... Adding anyone else would open the gates.

The only time I ever saw pistol live, ucla and wicks pounded lsu by 50. Every player on lsu looked like pistol - same floppy hair LOL. I think that was by design. My best kept secret was Dave Bing. I liked everything about him... High flyer, great catchy name

This was my first thought when I saw the thread title. He's who I wanted the Pistons to draft just because I watched those Marquette games and was convinced he would be great. Oh well, Darko was nearly as good.

To the poster above who said Respert. As a Spartan fan growing up, brings back great memories. You have to wonder what his NBA career would've been like if not for cancer. Still, I don't know if I'd put him as even the best Spartan I've ever seen. Steve Smith, Mateen Cleaves, and Draymond Green are all up there too.

At the end of the day, it's not about wins and losses. Teamwork, fair play, and good sportsmanship make champions of us all.

slothrop8 wrote:I started watching NCAA ball in 1988. In that time, Tyler Hansbrough had the best career of any college player I've seen. For single season the serious contenders for me are Sr Tim Duncan, So Blake Griffen, Sr JJ Redick, Sr Christian Laetner, So Larry Johnson, Fr Kevin Durant, and Jr Steph Curry. Curry's league is so weak it's a little hard to know how to judge him, but his body of work since then certainly suggests he'd have lit up any league. Fr Chris Jackson putting up 30 ppg in the SEC was pretty impressive as well, but he wasn't quite as efficient and a little more one-dimensional than some of the other guys listed.

So Chris Webber was pretty amazing too but his team was deep and he didn't have to do as much - he may have been able to put up eye popping numbers elsewhere. Same holds true for a few guys that passed through the Kentucky factory lately - their teams were so stacked who knows what they might have done somewhere they had to carry more load.

I'd love to see the pretzel you'd tie yourself in trying to justify/explain how you think Tyler Hansbrough had a better college career than Christian Laetner.

slothrop8 wrote:I started watching NCAA ball in 1988. In that time, Tyler Hansbrough had the best career of any college player I've seen. For single season the serious contenders for me are Sr Tim Duncan, So Blake Griffen, Sr JJ Redick, Sr Christian Laetner, So Larry Johnson, Fr Kevin Durant, and Jr Steph Curry. Curry's league is so weak it's a little hard to know how to judge him, but his body of work since then certainly suggests he'd have lit up any league. Fr Chris Jackson putting up 30 ppg in the SEC was pretty impressive as well, but he wasn't quite as efficient and a little more one-dimensional than some of the other guys listed.

So Chris Webber was pretty amazing too but his team was deep and he didn't have to do as much - he may have been able to put up eye popping numbers elsewhere. Same holds true for a few guys that passed through the Kentucky factory lately - their teams were so stacked who knows what they might have done somewhere they had to carry more load.

I'd love to see the pretzel you'd tie yourself in trying to justify/explain how you think Tyler Hansbrough had a better college career than Christian Laetner.

Sure, he had more career points and rebounds than Laetner, is the all-time leading scorer in the ACC, and was an All-American 4 times vs Laetner's 2 and 1st Team All American 3 times vs Laetner's 1. Hansbrough has the one extra elite year as Laetner was a high-end reserve/part-time starter for his freshman year, Hansbrough was a 2nd team AA as a Fr. Laetner had the higher TS% and of course got 2 titles vs Hansbrough's 1 - there's certainly an argument for Laetner and Laetner's peak was higher than Hansbrough's peak - but the 4 All-American Seasons compared to 2, and 3 1st team AA nods vs 1 tips the scale in terms of total career value toward Hansbrough for me.